How Social Media Impacts Advertising and Marketing for the Legal Industry

Social media provides an invaluable platform for collaboration. Over the last 6-years, I’ve gained tremendous insight by listening to and interacting with online conversations. Most importantly, no platform has allowed me to do this more effectively than my blog and Twitter. I’m loving that it is constantly evolving and that we have to figure it out as we go along. I’m also very appreciative of the early social media innovators and their continued influence and support within our space.

My interest in social media is from a communications, marketing, new business perspective. I saw the potential for social media early on and I continue to encourage my audience of small-to mid-size legal firms, to get involved.

How Social Media Impacts Advertising and Marketing for the Legal Industry April 6th, 2009 by Kara Social media provides an invaluable platform for collaboration. Over the last 6-years, I’ve gained tremendous insight by listening to and interacting with online conversations. Most importantly, no platform has allowed me to do this more effectively than my blog and Twitter. I’m loving that it is constantly evolving and that we have to figure it out as we go along. I’m also very appreciative of the early social media innovators and their continued influence and support within our space. My interest in social media is from a communications, marketing, new business perspective. I saw the potential for social media early on and I continue to encourage my audience of small-to mid-size legal firms, to get involved. I already wrote about social media’s impact upon the legal industry A Legal Marketing Revolution Is At Hand I also believe that social is having a great impact on advertising and marketing. The traditional venues of print, direct mail, radio and broadcast are not going to go away. If you don’t believe me and people like Chris Brogin or Seth Godin, you should also be reading Kevin O’Keefe’s Blog, http://kevin.lexblog.com/It’s going to take a leap of faith, but law firms have much to gain from testing the social media marketing medium… How? We have all had to face the challenges of clients not wanting to spend the time and money for the kind of qualitative and quantitative research that is often necessary for advertising and marketing campaigns to be successful. Measurement has also been a problem. Document hosted at http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=2dcc4425-3608-4140-a74b-09300a377adeI see that as one of the primary benefits of social media. It is not what a law firm’s brand means to the firm or to you, it’s what it means to the consumer, to your perspective clients. Perhaps one of the reasons so many legal firms have difficulty with their branding is that they are looking from the inside out, without the viewpoint of their prospective clients. Social media is time intensive but it is affordable and allows us to learn so much from our audiences. The results of surveys I’ve conducted, and my blog’s responses and analytics have been priceless. Social allows us to tap the minds of our audiences like nothing I have ever seen before! Social media provides legal firms and clients with affordable research on a grander scale than we’ve ever been able to conduct in the past and it is almost instant feedback. It is affordable, timely and easier to measure than traditional media. This is why I believe that social media will be the hub of the legal industry’s advertising/marketing. From broadcast to direct. We can engage our audience and know what messages are appealing and what resonates. We can do it quickly and that info will provide the epiphanies and “ah-ha” moments when we know that we have that valuable nugget for a successful campaign. Legal marketing professionals, social media is not only important for our clients and the brand that is their firm. It is important for a legal marketer’s brand as well .I encourage you to understand and use if for your business before attempting to use it for your clients. It is the best tool I have ever used in helping my clients with their own branding. It compels us to do new business the way we should have been doing it all along. It forces us to lead with benefits, and to create an appealing brand from our clients perspective. To be successful with social each legal marketer will have to narrow its focus, declare who they are, and how they are different. I don’t claim to be a social media expert. But, I have immersed myself into it in the biggest of ways, and have been professionally enriched beyond my initial comprehension. From a business perspective for small-to-midsize legal marketers social media is the greatest tool you will ever use. I hope you will “get on board” and find out for yourself! A note of thanks to my loyal readers: You are so gracious to overlook my typos , especially when it’s the 99’th hour of writing. Thank you so very much for your appreciation and ongoing encouragement in spite of them! Social media helps legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want. Additional articles that may be of interest: Legal Marketers – Here Are 11 Reasons You Can’t Ignore Social Media in 2009 Social Media PR, the Legal Marketing Business & Web 2.0 Weenies Document hosted at http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=2dcc4425-3608-4140-a74b-09300a377adeFor Small and Midsize Law Firms: The Launch of Your On-Line Platform Is News and Information For Your Current And Prospective Clients What if I Were Just Getting Started with Social Media Marketing Document hosted at http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=2dcc4425-3608-4140-a74b-09300a377ade

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